With a projected increase of 9,100 more residents and 16,800 additional jobs in these seven communities by 2020, traffic will increase by more than 40 percent, according to the just-released Central Montgomery County Transportation Study prepared for the county by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

To make traveling manageable, the study is recommending $710 million worth of transportation projects, ranging from highway improvement projects to bikeway improvements.

The study also supports increased public transit, from construction of the proposed Schuylkill Valley Metro and Cross County Metro to the adding of bus lines. Because these are regional projects that go well beyond the study area, the costs for these projects are not part of the study.

Even after these recommended highway improvements are implemented, there will still be some traffic tie-ups, according to DVRPC project manager Jerry Coyne.

"The capital improvements we have drawn on the map are good and go a long way to bring acceptable traffic conditions to the study area, but there will still be some hot spots remaining in the employment-rich municipalities of Whitpain, Plymouth and Norristown," said Coyne.

"Capital improvements cannot build us out of all of the problems," said Coyne, adding that travel management strategies including shared-ride programs and park-and-lock lots are gaining more and more importance in attacking traffic congestion problems.

County Transportation Planning Chief Leo D. Bagley said planners and the public should not become alarmed about the $710 million price tag for the 44 recommended improvement projects that will use federal, state and local funds.

"A lot of the big-ticket projects already are in the pipeline," said Bagley.

For example, $100 million of the projected $300 million in costs to widen the Pennsylvania Turnpike to six lanes between the Valley Forge and Norristown interchanges and to six lanes on the Northeast Extension between the Norristown and Lansdale interchanges is already budgeted, said Bagley.

Among the other major highway improvements proposed by the study are:

- The widening of Trooper Road from its interchange with Route 422 in Lower Providence up to Germantown Pike at the Worcester-East Norriton border.

- The widening of Germantown Pike from Trooper Road to the interchange with the turnpike in Plymouth.

- Construction of slip ramps on and off the Northeast Extension of the turnpike at Township Line Road and Route 202 in Whitpain Township and at Schultz Road in Worcester.

- Work recommended in the county's Lafayette Street Corridor in Norristown, including a turnpike slip ramp on Conshohocken Road in Plymouth.

- The widening of Plymouth Road between Germantown and Butler pikes in Plymouth.

- The widening of Ridge Pike in Lower Providence, Plymouth and West Norriton.

Also, the plan calls for $3.6 million to construct the Cross County multipurpose trail in Plymouth and Whitemarsh and $1.1 million to extend the Schuylkill River multi-use from Betzwood to Route 29 in Upper Providence.

Bagley said he was optimistic that most, if not all, of the 44 recommended projects could become reality by 2020.

"Our intent is to keep this an active study and use it as a bible when recommending projects for future funding," said Bagley.

The study, which will be updated regularly in response to any changes in traffic patterns, should also be used when looking at the mass transit needs of the county, whether it involves the addition of more bus lines, expansion of train station parking lots or shared-ride programs, said Coyne.

"This study, which involved the cooperation and work of the local municipalities, provides for a coordinated process to address transportation," said Coyne.

This is only the second traffic corridor study put together by the DVRPC. The first involved the Route 100 corridor in Chester County.

The studies, which require municipal participation, are designed to address areas in which there is traffic congestion, where significant growth is anticipated and where there is a lack of public transit. The county designated the seven-municipality Central Montgomery County region as a top priority for such a study.